Cheney resignation rumours

The scandal over the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame has been heating up in the US in the past few weeks, and it looks as if it could do serious damage to the Bush administration.

The prosecutor in the case is reportedly focusing on Bush advisor Karl Rove and Vice-President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis Libby, but there are rumours in Washington that Cheney himself could resign, to be replaced by Condoleeza Rice.

Even if this is no more than speculation, it shows the level of nervousness within the administration about the investigation. The Plame case looks exactly like one of those slow-burning, apparently peripheral issues that have often tripped up Governments in the past.

I’m reminded of the words of Albert Reynolds, "It’s the little thing that get you in the end."